Playing the Game
by MyDearCatastrophe
Summary: THE ONLY RULE: SURVIVE. Rated T because Puck refused to appear in anything rated lower. BTW, if you read this title, odds are you just lost the game.
1. Reboot

Hey guys! You may notice the distinct lack of chapters. This is because there is going to be a revamp, in (hopefully) a tearing-down-a-despotic-aparetment-building-and-rebuilding-a-Victorian-masion-where-it-once-stood. It should be up by Sunday, otherwise known as the end of Thanksgiving break. Thanks to all my lovely reviewers, and have a happy break.

-G


	2. And we're back, kind of

**Chapter Uno (Yaise! It's up!)**

This had to be, by far, the stupidest thing Sabrina's grandmother had ever dragged her into. Between the armed-to-the-teeth guards and so much radiation that she itched to go home and take a shower before she turned into the creature from the black lagoon, she was kinda thinking that being in the system was a better lifestyle than this. And what were her parents thinking? They were supposed to wake up, have a big happy family reunion, and then whisk them back to New York to live like normal people with normal clothes and eat normal food. Yes, she knew she was being whinier than ever before, but this princess wanted her castle back!

As Bluebeard ordered the soldiers to carry the vats of toxic goo, Puck nudged her in the side. He winked, his green eyes twinkling. "Don't worry," he grinned. "Once they get a whiff of you, they're down for good. "

Sabrina hated how, even in dire situations, he could get under her skin.

"Okay," said Charming. "Go!"

They rushed from their hiding place. Their mission was to plug a bug (the digital kind, not the live ones: the camp had gotten a little past stone axes and throwing rocks) somewhere where it wouldn't be noticed and get the heck out before someone lost a head. They had decided on the low-hanging light socket.

Puck turned into an elephant and took out about six guards right away, the others trying to raise an alarm. Victoria took out another two while Henry battled a particularly nasty hobgoblin. Daphne and Sabrina ran towards a pile of metal crates under a lightbulb. They were almost there when Bluebeard stepped out from the shadows, smiling and twirling a dagger that gave Sabrina shivers running down her spine. She groped behind her, and, finding a long metal pole behind, she wielded in front of her like a sword.

"Daphne," she hissed. "Go."

The little girl nodded and ran towards the ladder-like stack of crates. As she began climbing, Bluebeard laughed.

"Not a chance, little girl." He charged her. As they fought, Sabrina fell, her back hitting one of the huge vats. It tipped over, and Sabrina barely had time to dive out of the way before a tidal wave of slow, painful death flooded the spot where she had stood seconds before. Crab-walking backwards, she could feel her breath coming in short gasps. Suddenly, a pair of hands lifted her away to safety.

"Grimm, you are more trouble than you're worth."

"Puck," she sighed with equals parts relief and annoyance.

"SABRINA!" came a shriek from the middle of the room.

Sabrina and Puck may have escaped danger, but Daphne was stranded atop the crates, with the acid slowly rising to meet her.

Sabrina twisted and wriggled in her savior's grasp.

"Stop that," he ordered. It had no affect on her hysteric movements.

"Puck," she gasped, "you have to get her. You have to get her!"

By this time, an extremely frightened Daphne was sitting hurricane-position, curled in a ball with her hands over her head, in the center of the top crate. Puck set the blonde girl down, muttered something about his reputation, and dove back into the air. Sabrina's parents ran over and helped her stand when the dazed girl didn't immediately get to her feet. The fairy swooped down and picked up Daphne right as the toxins covered the area she had previously occupied. Sabrina felt the air leave her body as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, now that you have successfully destroyed my career as the greatest villain known to man," Puck huffed, "why don't we get the heck out of here?"

For once, Sabrina agreed with him.

It was a blur after that. Puck landed again, sending Daphne reeling into Sabrina. An then, then they were running life there was no tomorrow and there was a car and they were in it and then they were just... home. Home, and Granny Relda was looking at Sabrina and saying something and looking anxious and then Sabrina's audio capailities caught up with the rest of her and... what did she mean, was she hurt? Sha had been careful and why was there blood on her hoodie? Had she gotten hit? But her hoodie wasn't torn, so...

She looked up, confused. At her mother and father, who looked much the same. At Granny Relda, who still looked worried. At Puck, who was trying not to show that he felt as scared as the rest of them. At Mr. Canis, who had one eyebrow cocked in a display of concern. And at Daphne, who had blood, red like roses, red like lipstick, covering a ruined hand. And there, here world ceased to function.

"I'm sorry," she wimpered, like Sabrina was the one who was staind the world red. "I'm so, so sorry." And as she crumpled, first swaying a bit and then collapsing, Sabrina thought that it was a sick sort of ironic that she could stave off the immobility of shock any time except for when it actually mattered.

**Aaaaand that's a wrap, folks. For those of you who already read this, is it better? Worse? The same? All comments are read. All flames are doused with my ego.**


	3. And there's another one

**Aaaand it's a short one, folks. A lot of what used to be chapter 2 is now chapter 1, so... Whiny emotional crap time.**

It wasn't the unconcious thing that was bothering Sabrina. That was actually relitively easy to deal with. That, she could pretend was just Daphne sleeping.

But.

But Daphne never in all her eleven years had been a quiet sleeper. She kicked and snorted and wrestled herself for blankets. And that was what bothered Sabrina the most, more than the bandage, more than the occasional whimper. The stillness. The utter abscence of the Daphen-ness. Sbrina had known something like this would happen. Grimms weren't supposed to grow old together. That was why all Granny Relda's friends were Everafters or dead. She looked at her sister, still looking like she a coma patient but for the twitches that came occasionally, and... and the room wasn't big enough suddenly. She couldn't breathe right, felt the walls closing in on her...

She heard her parents talking to Nurse Spat downstairs and made her way to the stairs to join them, picking up the end of their conversation.

"...so, it's not the damage on her hand that I'm worried about. That can be taken care of with a few skin grafts and a blood transfusion. But the acid seems to have... infected her blood stream. She's showing signs of a cancer-like disease. Her bones are becomeing less dense, and there are signs of her blood not transporting oxygen like it's supposed to. If this keeps up..."

Sabrina stopped hearing her, stopped hearing Elvis's whines, stopped hearing her family calling her name as she raced out the door. The house was too small, she couldn't breathe in it…

Puck would be sent after her, that was for certain. But, she didn't want to be found. Canis's voice spoke in her memory, one from way back when they were still taking survival lessons from him: zigzag. So she did, getting more and more lost in the process. But it wasn't until she became aware of the sharp pain in her feet that she stopped.

Oh, that's right, she thought dimly. I forgot my shoes.

She had come to a halt in an unfamiliar clearing. Giving up on finding her way back, she did the only thing that really mattered. She let out the scream that had been building inside of her since she had seen Daphne trapped on that box. She didn't care if Puck heard.

Puck… this was his fault. He should have rescued her faster. No, it was her parent's fault. They should have taken the all back to New York, away from all this. No, it was Granny Relda's, she decided they should go on that stupid mission…

No, she realized in a surge of overwhelming guilt as her scream collapsed in on itself, it was her fault. She should have been on that crate, she should have said no to the mission, she should have taken her sister back, dragging her the whole way if necessary. So, really, it was all her fault.

All my fault, all my fault, all my fault… the words ran in circles in her head. They were still spinning when a voice asked, "Now, now, why were you screaming?"

She looked up. Standing in front of her was a well dressed man in his late forties- early fifties. While obviously being long stripped of his youth, the man stood straight without the aid of a cane. He had silver hair and bright green eyes.

"Who're you," Sabrina mumbled, suddenly feeling six million instead of sixteen. He smiled, showing of an impressive set of bone white teeth.

"Why, I'm someone who can help your sister.

**Well, thank you all for reading, and sorry it was such a long chapter. I just couldn't find a place to stop. I was going to cut it off at Nurse Sprat's little announcement, but that wouldn't have been very dramatic, seeing as how anyone who read my summary already knew that. I am, by the way, a girl. I'm cuter in person than I am in my profile pic, I promise.**

**Lets see, what else…**

**Oh! IownnothingI''lletitsoonenoughIpromise.**

**That's pretty much it.**


	4. What, another one?

**I'm watching The Wizard… it's good, as far as some of the older movies go.**

"Someone who can help my sister?" Sabrina echoed.

"I just said so, didn't I?" The man looked bored.

"You're Scarlet Hand, aren't you?" Sabrina asked suspiciously. The man snorted.

"Those idiots? Of course not. They cause more problems at S.H.I.E.L.D than anything else."

"Where…" As the blonde girl struggled to comprehend what he was talking about, the man shifted his position and sighed.

"I'll have to start at the beginning, won't I?"

"That would be greatly appreciated, yes."

"It's like this: My name is Edin Ananta. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D, which is an acronym- you do know what an acronym is, don't you? Good.- for Society Headquarters of Illegal Everafter Lifestyle Department. There, as you may suspect, we make sure that humans remain of the whereabouts of us not-so-humans. Families like yours- the Grimms- and others such as the Andersons have the right to know about us. The rest of you- not so much. What I want from you is your superior field skills. That fairy has the obvious advantage over you, what with the wings, yet he still can't find you. You are superior in that area, even compared to other humans- and some Everafters. What we need you to do is hunt down- and ultimately terminate- the threats to our world. In return, your sister's little disease goes away."

"And then what," Sabrina asked warily. " I have seen Ghost Rider, you know. Her cancer goes away, and then what? She gets hit by a car? Eaten by a dragon? Falls off a cliff?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Mr. Ananta said. "What would that do for me? I have no use for your sister, outside of a bargaining chip. I'm not going to argue the point that sooner or later, she'll get herself killed- the "eaten by a dragon" thing was probably dead on- but that's a separate matter entirely."

"So I just sign, and poof! problem gone?"

"That is the gist of it, yes."

Could he be telling the truth? Could he really cure Daphne, just like that? If so, his powers must be phenomenal. Who was he? She shrugged off her doubts. This was her fault, her responsibility.

This was her bargain to make.

Licking her lips, she looked up. "So, where do I sign?"

The mystery man smiled. "Are you sure you don't want to read the fine print? Fine-comb through the liability claims? Run away screaming?" His grin stretched to the point where she could see his unusually sharp canines. "Most girls your age would."

Sabrina bristled, despite the situation. Like she didn't get that enough from Puck! Practically the first thing he had said to her was to fix him food, it was women's work. Since then, whenever he felt that he was losing an argument, he pulled the gender card.

_What would you know? You're a girl!_

_Why should I? Tell Sabrina to._

_She's a girl._

_It's women's work!_

It was enough to drive her insane. Or anyone else, for that matter.

The man- Mr. Ananta- sensed this. "If you are having any doubts, now is the time to voice them. How does it go again? 'Speak now, or forever hold you pe-'"

"_Where _do I _sign_?" Sabrina was tired of playing around. She was tired in general, actually.

"Very well," Mr. Ananta pulled a rolled up sheet of paper out of his knee-length black coat. Unrolling it, he said, "Just sign here."

The contract read:

As of this date (_/_/_), I pledge my loyalty, capability, and bravery to the protection of human ignorance. I will not fail to meet the requirements or to make myself available when necessary. If I fail, my life becomes forfeit, and my deal rescinded.

X_ _

Sabrina wrote her signature over the bottom of the document before doubt could set in, scratching the date in as well. Then she rolled the paper back into a tight cylinder and handed it to her new boss.

"Excellent." Mr. Ananta's eyes glittered, "We'll be in touch. Don't call us, we'll call you, you know the drill, I assume?"

S.H.I.E.L.D's newest agent nodded.

"Good." With a small, sharp nod, the man disappeared into the edge of the trees.

How long did it take for Puck to find her? Minutes? Hours? Seconds? How long before he scooped her up and returned to the air? How long before she fell asleep?

When she woke up, light streamed in through her window. Sabrina was vaguely aware that she was not alone. She turned over, kicking off the covers in the process, to see her entire family- minus one fairy- crowded in her room.

"…brina. Sabrina."

Ah. Yeah. Granny talking.

"Yeah?" she mumbled.

"How are you, leibling?" Granny Relda could guilt you without even trying like none other. One Where you last night? We were so worried! look could wipe the smug right out of you.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Sabrina insisted. Turning to Daphne, she asked, "Hey, kid. How are ya'?" the little girl smiled.

"I'm fine. Better than fine. I'm great! I've been so hyper all day, and Nurse Sprat did _better _than a skin graft, she found an old medical spell that no one's used for, like, centuries, and it stopped the infetion and isolated it or something and she _zapped it up _and right now this hand is mostly glamor but there's another thingy they want to try and-"

"I get the point," Sabrina cut in, only a little worried that Daphne was willing to undergo a treatment she wasn't familiar with past the term "thingy".

After another ten minutes of being fussed over, Sabrina was finally left alone to sleep. This didn't, of course, last very long. Only about six minutes had passed before the door creaked back open. She sat up.

"Mom, I don't need anything. I'm fine. Really."

"Well, you always were fairly indestructible. Probably because I destroyed my reputation to keep you that way." Sabrina groaned inwardly. The reputation card was shuffled in the deck right after the gender one.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Relax," the fairy snorted. "This is for you. It was on the front porch." He tossed a small black box tied with a red bow onto the bed next to her. Shooting a last look at her, exited the room.

Sabrina raised her eyebrows, snorted, and turned her attention to the box. Inside was a sleek black cell phone. Under it was a note reading,

Keep this on you. You'll be needing it.

-E.A.

P.S.- Jenny sits besides you in math class. It would be in your best interests to befriend her.

**Okie-dokie, that took longer than I thought it would. And now I have 'I Found My Way' stuck in my head. I don't own the Sisters Grimm 'n Co., I only sorta own Mystery Man (if you figure out who he is, DO NOT SNITCH!), I will own Jenny whenever she comes into play. I will probably add another chapter tomorrow 'cause I'll be at my Grandma's house for a few hours.**


	5. dun dundun dun

**Okay, I'm at my grandma's house on her computer. There might be some mistakes because she has WordPerfect and not Microsoft Word. I don't know how much it does by way of punctuation and spell checking. Also, I would say that I don't own the Sisters Grimm, but... I do! Mwa haha! I own it all!**

**Sabrina: Eunis...**

**Me: oh, fine, ruin all my fun. I don't actually own them, but someday I might!**

**Sabrina: *cough*yeahright*cough***

**Me: play nice, or I'll make the jabberwocky eat you.**

**Sabrina: so, I'll kill it. We still have the Vorpal Blade around here somewhere...ah!**

**Me: hey, what's with the sword? And why are you looking at me like that? SABRINA! STOP! I GIVE! I GIVE! I WON'T KILL YOU OFF!**

Math was Sabrina's fourth period class, right after art. But, she couldn't remember ever having someone sit next to her. She thought hard.

Nope, still coming up blank.

She slid into her seat right before the bell rang. Using her hair to block her vision, she opened her binder. Before she had gotten far, a folded piece flopped onto her desk. Not looking up, she unfolded it.

Hey! I'm Jenny. You're Ananta's new girl, right? He told me to show you the ropes. Meet me by the fountain in the park after school.

"Ms. _Thompson_, how nice of you to come to school today. Let me _guess_, you had the _Spanish influenza_?

Mr. O'Donnell really liked placing emphasis on random words.

"No, sir. My grandfather died," said a voice to Sabrina's left.

The look on their teacher's face was priceless. "Oh, I am so sorry! How did he... I mean... how do you," he spluttered trying to make amends. "Have Sabrina share her books with you."

Sabrina heard the metallic clang as the desk next to her slid into her's.

"Hey, there, partner!" She looked up.

The girl sitting next to her had brown chin-length choppy hair in the front, hair past her shoulder blades in the back, and side bangs. Her eyes were blue-gray with hazel in the middle. She had on a purple short-sleeve over a long-sleeved black one. Under that was a pair of black skinny jeans tucked into a pair of chic black boots. She pulled of an edge look Sabrina hadn't seen since leaving New York. The girl- Jenny- smiled, her eyeliner giving her a Cleopatra-like style. Sabrina spun around in her seat and glued her eyes to the board.

Before Sabrina could think of a plausible excuse to go home early, the final bell rang. She packed her homework into her backpack and all but dragged herself to the park. When she got there, Jenny was sitting on the edge of the fountain, shoes off, jeans rolled, feet in the water. She looked up and saw Sabrina standing near the sidewalk, she grinned and motioned her forwards. Like they were normal. Like they were friends.

Like they weren't about to go kill somebody.

Later, Sabrina would look back on this moment as dramatic. At the moment, she didn't particularly care.

The brunette pulled her shoes back on as her reluctant partner inched forwards. Sabrina had only progressed a few yards. Jenny met her halfway, grabbed her arm, and started pulling.

"C'mon. It took ya long enough to get here." With that, she dragged Sabrina to a shiny black car.

"Why is it always 'sleek and dark'?" Sabrina wondered out loud.

"Hmm?" Jenny raised her eyebrows. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I got a black box, with a sleek, black phone and I'm about to get into a black car. Am I the only one who sees the pattern here?"

"You may have a point there," Jenny mused. "It isn't protocol, exactly. It's just us saying we like La Femme Nikita and Bourne Identity as much as the next sucker."

"So, while everyone's saying you're acting like a cliché, you're doing it so you look cliché?"

"Think of it as homage to the media greats." Sabrina raised both eyebrows.

"Oh?"

"Yup." Jenny nodded. "I dressed up as Lara Croft for three years in a row for Halloween." She looked over at the girl sliding into the passenger's seat. "What, no snappy comment on how I have no life?"

"Five years ago, I might have," Sabrina sighed, adjusting her seatbelt. "But now, I see weirder thing than that on my way to school. You know how the saying goes: 'Reality is stranger than fiction.'" She looked over to see the driver smiling at her. "What!"

"Not a thing," said Jenny, smiling. "You're gonna fit in just fine."

"Gee, thanks," Sabrina said sarcastically. "Not only does every Everafter in this place want to kill me, but apparently I'm the next Agent 99. How did I ever get so lucky?"

"I would be mad at you for that, but since you used a Get Smart reference, I'll forgive you. And before you start back with the sarcasm- which, don't lose it, you're gonna need it for this job- what I meant was, you have your head screwed on tight. You see things for what they are, and you don't rush on judgement. The ability to take a step back and assess the situation is important for this job. And it's about time we got another girl around here! Those boys act like they own the place. They're anarchists! Sorry," she said after taking a breath. "I like using big words. So you've seen things weirder than my Halloween costumes, eh?" she asked, starting the car.

"Yeah. Sorry for ruining it."

"Not at all. Then again," Jenny grinned, "I still haven't told you about the time I dressed up as a sushi." (A/N: True story.)

This time, Sabrina's eyebrows nearly disappeared beneath her hairline. "No."

"Oh, yeah. I got two hula hoops, wrapped them up in green fabric, and used crumpled white tissue paper as rice. Then, I put light and dark pink stripes on a shirt to look like a shrimp and stood in the middle of it, using a couple pieces of string as suspenders." (A/N: Ditto.) Sabrina couldn't help but laugh on that one. Then realization struck, and she laughed so hard she couldn't breathe.

"Are you laughing or dying of asphyxiation over there?" Sabrina shook her head and wiped her eyes.

"It's just that, I've been here nearly five years. The first friend I made tried to eat me. After that, I sorta stopped trying. Now, I'm bonding with an assassin whose boss more or less owns my soul over a car ride towards the person we're killing! Do I have horrible taste or what?"

"I would be mad at you, but you're right. It is funny." A laugh escaped from the brunette's fuchsia- glossed lips. "And you aren't killing anyone. First time is strictly observatory. Letting you get down and dirty with no experience could jeopardize the mission. No offense."

"None taken." Sabrina pulled her long hair into a ponytail. "By the way, what's up with the car?"

"I was wondering if you were gonna ask that." Jenny fished around in her purse, pulled out a piece of gum, popped it in her mouth, chewed, and blew a huge citrus-scented bubble before continuing. "Every recruit gets one. Not this model, specifically, but the ride of their choice. As long as it's fast and good for high-speed chases, it's in the budget." Patting the dashboard, she said, "I got a X5 Security Plus BMW AG. It's fast and bulletproof, so it's perfect for on the job. Off the job," she shrugged, "I just have a thing for fast cars. You ready?

Sabrina swallowed hard before saying, "Let's just get this over with." Jenny's smile doubled in size as she turned the keys in the ignition and floored the gas pedal.

**Well, there ya have it. Not my best ending, I know, but it's late and my brain is fuzzy. Also, I have come to the conclusion that nothing is more satisfying than a positive review. I am now addicted to music from RENT (La Vie Boheme!) and The Cell Block Tango. I hope to be able to write from Sabrina's POV soon. I warn you: her character will probably (definitely) get a little (a lot) OOC, but I can't figure out how to make her into a lean mean killin' machine without a few changes to her personality. So, be forewarned. That's pretty much it, so… bye! **


End file.
